ONE of cricket's most senior executives has cast aside concerns that Australia's football codes could be buried by the the doping and corruption scandal, saying they had proved resilient entities and indicating their profiles could even prosper as a result of the episode.

Cricket Australia's general manager of marketing, digital and communications, Ben Amarfio, told a marketing function in Melbourne on Thursday night the commercial success of the National Rugby League and the AFL, despite previous off-field incidents, showed they would not be brought down despite a serious blow to their reputation.

''In the past 12 months, the NRL has had players assault women, players assault policemen, they've had drug, corruption and match-fixing issues - the list goes on and on. And yet they've just signed a TV deal for over $1 billion, which is almost 50 per cent bigger than their last TV deal,'' Amarfio was quoted as saying by the marketing news website Mumbrella, which organised the event.

''But despite the noise that's been created in the media, even though it's negative, it actually creates a lot more interest in your brand and your sport. It's a huge story. But I guarantee that this story will prompt a lot of interest, and generate a lot of discussion and debate around sport. It's not always such a bad thing to get negative press.''

Amarfio took part in a panel discussion at the function and was asked what impact the Australian Crime Commission's report on Australian sport on Thursday would have on the future on the NRL and AFL. Speaking to Fairfax Media on Friday, he insisted he had not meant that the scandal was a marketing and publicity coup for sport but was seeking to pour cold water on those eager to sound the death knell for football codes in crisis.

''The major sports like the AFL and the NRL are very resilient,'' Amarfio said. ''While this type of scandal isn't great, we've found in time that it doesn't, or it hasn't at least, had any material commercial effect on these leagues, as is evidenced by their record [television] deals.''